Tim Russ
| Place of birth = Washington, DC, USA | Roles = Performer, Director | Characters = Tuvok (primary character; see additional credits for more). | Image2 = Tuvok 2371.jpg }} Timothy Darrell Russ, better known as Tim Russ is an actor from Washington, DC, who has portrayed different characters in various Star Trek television series and movies; however, he is best known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager. He also directed the Voyager episode . Along with Jonathan Frakes, he is one of the only Star Trek actors to have appeared on-screen with four out of the five Trek series captains. (Frakes did appear in with Kirk actor William Shatner, but he did not share any scenes with him. Russ, on the other hand, did share scenes with Shatner in this movie.) One of his favorite movies is . One of his favorite actors is the late William Marshall, who happened to appear on Star Trek: The Original Series in the episode as Doctor Richard Daystrom. Early life and career Born in Washington, DC, Russ spent his childhood in a number of different places, as his father was a United States Air Force officer. He wound up graduating from high school in Turkey, earning his diploma from Rome Academy in New York, and receiving a B.S. in Theater Arts from St. Edward's University in Texas. He then received a full scholarship from Illinois State University, where he continued studying the theater. Russ began acting full time in 1985. In October of that year, he appeared in episodes of The Twilight Zone and Hunter (the latter of which he acted alongside Bruce Davison, Gary Graham and Tony Plana). The following year, he made his feature film debut, playing Robert Johnson in the musical drama Crossroads. He followed this with another film that same year: the romantic drama Fire with Fire, starring Virginia Madsen. In , Tim Russ auditioned for the role of Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but the part was given to LeVar Burton. However, he did win the role of D.C. Montana in the TV movie pilot for an action series called The Highwayman that same year. The series was subsequently picked up and debuted in 1988, with Russ as a regular cast member. However, the series only lasted nine episodes before being canceled. In the meantime, Russ continued to make guest appearances on such TV shows as Hill Street Blues (with Anne Haney and James B. Sikking), Jake and the Fatman (with his future Voyager co-star, Dwight Schultz), Beauty and the Beast (with Ron Perlman and Warren Munson), and Alien Nation, starring Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint. Russ made a memorable, though brief, appearance in the popular science fiction spoof ''Spaceballs''. In the movie, Russ plays a trooper who is assigned to literally comb a desert using an over-sized comb. When asked if he had found anything, Russ' frustrated trooper proclaims, "We ain't found shit!" Dey Young also made an appearance in Spaceballs as a waitress. In addition, Russ appeared in the 1987 action film Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (Marina Sirtis had appeared in Death Wish 3), the 1988 sci-fi/horror film Pulse, starring Cliff deYoung, and the 1988 drama Bird, which featured Bill Cobbs, Hamilton Camp, and Tony Todd. Also in 1988, Russ co-starred with James Sloyan and Leigh Taylor-Young in the telefilm Who Gets the Friends? and was one of several Star Trek performers to appear in the TV special Roots: The Gift. His co-stars in this latter film included Avery Brooks (later to star as Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), LeVar Burton, and Kate Mulgrew (who would, of course, go on to co-star with Russ on Star Trek: Voyager). 1990s Russ' work in the early 1990s included: the TV movies The Heroes of Desert Storm (with Glenn Morshower), Journey to the Center of the Earth (with F. Murray Abraham and Carel Struycken), and Bitter Vengeance (co-starring Virginia Madsen and Bruce Greenwood); the films Eve of Destruction, Mr. Saturday Night and Dead Connection; and guest appearances on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (including one episode which guest-starred Kenneth Tigar) and episodes of the short-lived Cop Rock (starring Ronny Cox) and Tequila and Bonetti (starring Charles Rocket). He also guest-starred in an episode of Melrose Place with Casey Biggs. He later appeared an episode of the short-lived television show seaQuest DSV, where he played a noteworthy computer hacker named Martin Clemens, who was nicknamed "Mycroft". In 1993, he was cast in his first Star Trek role, playing Devor in the Next Generation episode . He would follow this with the role of T'Kar on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine later that same year. These roles (and his appearance in the film Star Trek Generations) would ultimately win him the role of Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager, which debuted in January of . He would play the role for the next seven years. Although Voyager took up most of Russ' time, he nonetheless had the chance to co-write, direct, and star in the 1998 independent drama film East of Hope Street. He also voiced the character of Hobie Brown a.k.a. The Prowler for an episode of the animated Spider-Man series based on the characters appearing in Marvel Comics. After Voyager Since Voyager's end in , Russ has focused on directing as well as his singing career. In 2001, he released his second album through independent distribution, Kushangaza, featuring the song "Kushangaza". This song could also be seen in the hidden music video on disc 7 of Star Trek: Voyager Season 2 DVD. In 2003, Russ directed the short film Roddenberry on Patrol, a comedic look at Gene Roddenberry's search to create Star Trek. He assigned a number of other Trek to appear in the film, including TOS stars Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and George Takei (who narrated) and Voyager co-stars Robert Beltran, Ethan Phillips, and Robert Picardo. Russ himself also appeared in the film. In 2005, he appeared in an episode of ER, along with Mädchen Amick and Leland Orser, and the following year he appeared with Star Trek: Enterprise star Connor Trinneer in an episode of NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service called "Jeopardy". He also had roles in the films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (2005, co-starring Richard Herd and Time Winters) and The OH in Ohio (2006). In addition, he had a recurring role on the short-lived NBC TV series Twenty Good Years and on the soap opera General Hospital. Most recently, he made a brief appearance as an agent on Without a Trace, starring Enrique Murciano and played a throat doctor in an episode of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana entitled "I Am Hannah, Hear Me Croak". Russ directed and starred in the internet-release-only mini-series Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, complete with a Star Trek-related cast, including Nichols, Koenig, Grace Lee Whitney, Alan Ruck, Garrett Wang, Chase Masterson, J.G. Hertzler, Gary Graham, and Crystal Allen. Russ can be seen in the fourth Die Hard film, Live Free or Die Hard. Currently, he is starring as Frank the doorman on the ABC comedy series Samantha Who?, which is produced and sometimes directed by Russ' Voyager castmate Robert Duncan McNeill. He also has an ongoing role as Principal Franklin on the Nickelodeon series iCarly. Additional Star Trek credits Additional appearances on Star Trek Image:Devor.jpg|Devor Image:Tkar.jpg|T'Kar Image:Enterprise b lieutenant.jpg|[[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-B) personnel#Lieutenant|USS Enterprise-B Lieutenant]] Image:Tuvok (mirror).jpg|Tuvok (mirror) Image:Tuvok_hologram2373.jpg|Tuvok (hologram) Image:Tuvok_french_resistance.jpg|French Resistance member Image:Evil_tuvok.jpg|Tuvok (Kyrian recreation) Image:Tuvok_biomimetic_copy.jpg|Biomimetic lifeform (immitating Tuvok) Image:Tuvok_hologram2376.jpg|Tuvok (hologram) Image:Tulak.jpg|Tulak (hologram) Director credits * Voice Acting Credits * Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force * Star Trek: Elite Force II Writing credits * Malibu DS9: ** #29: "Sole Asylum, Part One" (co-plotting "Enemies & Allies, part one" story with Mark Paniccia) ** #30: "Sole Asylum, Part Two" (co-plotting "Enemies & Allies, part two" story with Mark Paniccia) External links * The Official Tim Russ Webpage * * * Tim Russ tribute page - fan site de:Tim Russ es:Tim Russ fr:Tim Russ nl:Tim Russ pl:Tim Russ Russ, Tim Russ, Tim Russ, Tim Russ, Tim Russ, Tim Russ, Tim Russ, Tim